I'm going to the quilt show tomorrow!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! The Festival of Quilts started yesterday! Who's been? Who's going? What should I look out for? I will take loads of pictures for you, and maybe even bring back a little something to give away!

Teaser...

Before Lynne gives up on me completely, here is a teaser of my project on a budget for Abakhan fabrics:

Now I've got the hang of the bunting, it's coming together quickly. As for the Union Jacks.... well, I'm a little stuck there, I keep ending up with my seam allowances to short, but I'm working on it!

New bricks-and-mortar haberdashery store in Lincolnshire

Super news for all my Lincolnshire followers (I say 'all' - I think there are 2 of you!). There is a new haberdashery store coming to Horncastle a week on Monday. The lady currently has a stall at Horncastle market on Saturdays, but as of the 9th of July she will be opening a shop in the town - and I for one can't wait! At the moment, the only fabrics shops we have are Dunelm in Lincoln, which is really more furnishing stuff, or the Stitchery in Ruskington, which is great, but is a long way from where I live, especially if I only want thread! So watch this space - when it opens, I will pop in and come back here and update you on what's on offer!

In the meantime, this is what I bought today - I only wanted iron-on interfacing! But aren't these beautiful, they will make a lovely summery bag (I feel another Noodlehead 241 tote coming on!:

And these cute printed wooden buttons, only 30p each, which would look fab on little clutches. What do you think?

In other news, I am gonna be in so much trouble with Lynne at Lily's Quilts :( My picnic bag/rug tute is taking sooooooo long, partly because I am rammed at work, but partly because I am just not skilled enough to take on this kind of project! But I *am* working on it. Sowwy Lynne!

I've been a bad blogger...again!

:( Sorry guys, I've let you down once again! I've just realised I haven't given you an update since 12th May! And I haven't done a WIP Wednesday for a month! So I guess I'd better update you...

The main problem has been that I am working on a couple of things that I can't tell you about yet. It used to really annoy me when I read that on blogs, but now I can see how it is unavoidable sometimes. But I have designed something totally awesome (though I say so myself) and entered it in a competition - top prize is a sewing machine, so I really want to win! And the other thing I've been working on is my Let's get acquainted blog hop post - it's not my turn until July, but once I'd decided what I was going to do, I couldn't wait to get started!

But I've got a few other things to tell you about. Remember the lovely coffee pot fabric I won from Susan at Canadian Abroad:

Well I used it to make a cafetiere cover and 6 mug rugs. I had lots of funny shaped scraps left over, so I jiggled these about a bit and made a mat for the cafetiere, sugar pot, etc to sit on. So from a fat quarter there was only about 2" x 3" worth of tiny scraps left over! The mat won't win any design awards, but for optimum use of the fabric I don't think I could've done much better! Here they are:

The cafetiere cover is loosely based on a pattern I found online, but I can't for the life of me find it again!

In other news, I've bought and won a few bits and pieces. Firstly, I won this beautiful charm pack from Izzy at Dizzy quilts as part of the Fugly party at Charm about you:

I went to Doughty's sale at Dunholme near Lincoln, and bought a few things. This jelly roll:

I also bought this blue fabric (the one at the bottom in this pic) to go with the fabrics I won from Maria at Not only quilts:

...and this floral fabric to go with the Kitty Boutique my mum bought me:

And while I was at the sale, my partner went out to get his hair cut and came back with these:

...and a bunch of flowers!

and finally...this is what I will be working on for the forseeable future:

I'm linking up with:

Beautiful parcel!

I won, I won! Thank you so much to Maria of Not only quilts! And oh is it a beauty! Look look look (or, as I said to my mum earlier, "Let's see your beautiful fabrics from Malta? Oh yes, that's right, you haven't got any. I HAVE!!) LOOK:

Look how much fabric! it's about 2 half yards and 2  fqs, I think. The patterned ones are by Kitty Yoshida:

 And she sent lots of extra bits, ribbon and buttons,etc:

Her blog is so inspiring, and she's one of the Moda bakeshop chefs (oh and she's gorgeous, cow! lol) so go check out her blog :)

I won't hear a word against Royal Mail!!

Wow, what a day for parcels! Firstly these, from Doughtys, to continue with my New York Beautys:

These were really good value, at around £1.75 per long quarter.

But what I'm really impressed about is that I ordered these fabrics at 3pm yesterday from Needle and thread and Carole's Crafts and they arrived in this morning's post! Not signed for, not special delivery, just first class post and here they are:

I love love LOVE them, they are for a baby quilt for a colleague. I have bought this pattern:

Can't wait to get started!

And finally, the fat quarter I won from Canadian abroad arrived today:

I love it, and am going to make a cafetiere cover and either mug rugs or tea caddy covers with it. Thanks Susan!

I'm going to draw the giveaway in about 20 minutes - if you haven't already, you still have time to take part :)

Giveaway!!

Spotted this great giveaway, and had to have a go! so here's my entry:

Took me so long to get this far, I didn't have time to name the fabrics too! Will do it later though!

Fugly fabrics!

Ok, been loving checking out all your fugly fabrics and couldn't wait to join in the party, so here are my offerings! UK entries only please, I just don't have the pennies for international postage :( That's *if* anyone wants any of these, I would like to claim they found their own way into my stash, but sadly, I think I actually paid for all of them!

So number 1:

This batik is somewhat reminiscent of tribal drawings in it's design, but this photo really doesn't do justice to the clash of colours in this design! The highlights are definitely the neon greens, yellows and pinks. If you get this one, you will need your sunglasses!

Number 2:

 Hideous, just hideous! The flowers on this are like peppercorn size and the colours are just...there are no words.

Number 3:

 This is a lovely soft fabric, I think it's called brushed cotton. This one's ok I guess, but I just don't know what I'm gonna use it for. It has stars, hearts, holly and reindeer on it.

Number 4:

 This is some kind of organza-ey fabric in a gunmetal grey. Again an okay fabric, but no clue what I will do with it, there's quite a bit of it too!

Number 5:

:-| Literally. That's the face I am making. I can only think I broke into an old lady's house and stole her curtains. If no one takes this I may break into an old lady's house and leave this as a 'present'... in the loosest sense of the word!

Number 6:

 This one is a sort of forest green colour, not particularly objectionable but doesn't go with anything else I own.

And finally, number 7:

This one's actually really cute, but I got it to make a stuffed lizard for my ex so I'd rather just get shot of it to be honest.

So if you would like any of these, just follow my blog and leave me a comment :)

Having seen this little button:

...on a couple of blogs today, I decided to find out more:
http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/p/fugly-fabric-party.html

I seem to have come late to the party, so a lot of the fabric has already gone :( Anyhow, I want to get involved so I am off to try and find some fugly fabric...watch this space!